Visitors
by chimere
Summary: After the end that was neither what he had dreaded nor what he had hoped for, what does still tether William Adama to the world? Spoilers for up to and including "Daybreak, Part 2".


Disclaimer: everything in Battlestar Galactica (re-imagined series) belongs to Ronald D. Moore, David Eick and the Sci Fi Channel, I'm just borrowing some of it. Not making any money. Don't sue.

* * *

**Visitors**

_By chimère_

Bill gets visitors in his cabin that hovers between the worlds, between the sky full of the ethereal light of the new Earth and the ground in which he buried his Laura.

He never leaves for more than a day, always returning to sleep here. This is where he'll stay, he knows that. He and his loneliness have put down roots here.

But there are the visitors. They do not come often, but nevertheless they tether him to the memory of the rest of his life, to things other than his loss.

The first, to his surprise, are Athena and Helo and little Hera. Athena tells him of Boomer's last choice – to pay him back what she had owed him. It is painful to learn, painful like everything connected with Boomer, but a small measure of comfort as well. Helo salutes him, looking at him with stubborn pride, as if he were still the Admiral. Hera hugs him, and he lifts her up briefly, marvelling at how light this precious cargo – the hope of both humans and Cylons – is in his arms.

The second are Saul and Ellen. They have a bottle of something like ambrosia with them, brewed right here on Earth. Ellen goes for a walk in his not so well tended garden and he and Saul share a drink. He doesn't have as much taste for it as he used to, but it is good to remember old times.

The third is Lee. His son turns up six months after they last saw each other, looking thin and sunburnt and tired. He is alone and there is too much sadness in his eyes, too much for one having a whole new life to live, but just enough for the young leader who fought with guns and words to bring humanity through its longest night, the architect of their new way of life who was suddenly abandoned by everyone when the dawn finally broke.

Bill already knows about Kara. Saul told him. He knows that she never was there these last months, that they really did lose her that awful day so long ago. The one that came back wasn't Kara, she was... Bill still can't quite bring himself to believe in angels, but he knows that she wasn't human.

If only he could believe that Laura might return like that.

Lee looks almost as though he's afraid to disturb his solitude. Bill hopes that his face conveys his welcome. It's hard for him to express emotion lately; both his laughter and tears are spent.

He never meant that they shouldn't meet again. It's just that Lee travels and he has landed in his final port. Lee still has hope, something ahead of him; he has not. But they are father and son, and they know enough to understand each other. Both know what it is to lose your woman. Both know that it takes time to recover when a heavy burden you have become accustomed to is suddenly lifted, and the end is neither what you dreaded nor what you hoped for.

It is confusing to stand before this new peaceful life. It seems that they lived their utmost during the four years between the Colonies and the new Earth, did and felt enough for several lifetimes, and now they are strangely bereft. Bill has nothing more to do. Lee doesn't know what he wants to do.

Father and son sit together in the porch of the cabin on the hill. They don't speak. There's no need to.

"Come again," Bill says next morning, as Lee starts to leave.

"I will," his son replies, and hugs him very tightly, if briefly.

His cabin does not quite belong in the new day, its inhabitant not having let go of the long night that was strangely magnificent for all its horror. It was a time of legends when the Fleet travelled among the stars, led by the Galactica, and Laura Roslin was the last President of the Colonies. He can't help but cling to those memories, and so he continues to hover between the worlds.

But there are the visitors. He welcomes them, although he will not join them in the new life. Despite himself, he waits for the one who will never come. The one he so much wants to believe he'll see again on the other side when he finally leaves this cabin.

But for now, there are the visitors.

And the bright light of the new day is splendid to watch.


End file.
